LOST IN SPACE-the Hungry Sea review part one

NARRATION: Last week, Penny and Will Robinson became separated from the others and found themselves hopelessly trapped in the dead city ruins far beneath the surface of the strange planet. Now, suddenly, as they survey their mysterious surroundings...

TEASER-fully recapped and includes a bit from THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH act four's ending.

Will falls into the trap door; Penny rushes to help him up; together they look into the room using Will's flashlight. They spot a mummified alien with long hair. A skeleton really. Penny screams. The trap door closes after a gust of wind hits. This moves right into Judy and Don searching for Will and Penny. They almost leave (Judy putting her hand out for Don to follow her!). They see the drawings on the walls and hear Will and Penny. Don and Judy push in and find the two, who show him the skeleton. The door closes and they are all trapped this time. An earthquake starts up. The mummy shakes (and in the unaired pilot one falls). John and Maureen are near pillars and shake from the quake. They run down a hall, go to a wall, hear screams. Everyone calls for everyone else. John grabs Maureen back as she falls. They go down a hall of pillars. Judy, Don, Will, and Penny shake wildly in the trap room. Maureen and John seem to go past the wall. Don tells Judy, "Judy! Stay close to Penny!"Maureen and John pass the wall and almost leave. They hear the screams and realize this is where the others are. John fires his laser, making a square around one of the stone blocks in the wall. Don tells them, "Don't be frightened! It'll be open in a minute!"Penny screams wildly. Pillars fall. Debbie jumps over a fallen pillar and comes running to them. John yells, "Okay! Push! Push it!"Inside the others push against the stone.

ACT ONE

No titles yet: first John and Maureen yell for them to push it out which they do. Then Maureen says, "Now hurry up!"The music here totally loses the need for urgency. In the unaired pilot number one, the music is very tense and urgent, picking up even more so as the foursome exit the hole; the second unaired pilot also has this, despite a different but similar to the first unaired pilot musical cue. The slower music used here in HUNGRY SEA lessens the action. Dirt, rocks, and stone rain down on them. The girls fall, Will falls. They all get separated as they try to get out. Don is hit by a pile of dirt. Soon, the Chariot is leaving the cave. It is day. The titles come on.

Night at the spaceship Jupiter II: Smith calls the travelers poor benighted fools, watching them on the radar. The Robot's orbital data on this planet is contradictory. Robot feels the same data will yield the same results. Smith feels the Robot is using pride--casting the blame onto him. "There's a lot more human in you than I thought. No planet can have an orbit like this."The Robot's claws close. Smith cites specialists as the problem in today's world--he wonders what ever happened to the Renaissance Man. Robot tells him from history ---the 16th Century. When Smith says, "Oh dry up,"the Robot gives him a weather report. Humidity is 42 %, it is minus 120 degrees Fahrenheit and dropping. Inside temperature is 51 degrees and dropping. Smith puts his parka on. When Robot talks--for instance saying the word, "Rapidly"it sounds like this, "RRRRapidly."In one hour and fourteen minutes, it will be below freezing---the heat is on maximum. Robot tells Smith, "RRRecommended action. Head south."Smith calls him a pusillanimous puppet and says, "I have no intention of chasing off after that family of lunatics."In one hour and 12 minutes, he will freeze to death.

Chariot is moving at night. Will and Penny are asleep with their heads together. Don looks like he is resting also, with his head down. They come to a sea of solid ice, 20 feet thick (Don figures). It is 125 below zero. Don says, "If it gets much colder, we won't be going anywhere."Chariot goes onto the ice. Smoke passes. This is one of the most surreal scenes in the series and also is fantastic in the effects department. The models are splendid and the feeling of motion is wonderful.

Jupiter II: Smith feels peace and tranquility, "It's wonderful."Robot electrifies Smith's coffee and the fool burns his hand touching it. He calls the Robot a bumbling incompetent. He tells robot if he had any other company, he would have him broken down for spare parts. He says of the Robinsons---calling them pilgrims, they are either frozen or devoured by monsters by this time. Robot checks the radar while Smith dreams, "Poor fools. A pathetic end for a noble experiment."Smith stands up and plans a small ceremony--a simple service tomorrow--nothing fancy, no flowers, he will do the eulogy and it will be "simple but dignified."Robot locates the Chariot. Smith sounds hopeful, "Hopelessly wrecked somewhere no doubt."It isn't. Smith says, "What a pity. It would have been a beautiful eulogy. Perhaps some other time."It is minus 125 degrees and falling. Robot electrifies between his claws--the only way to get Smith warm. Smith yells, "Cease and desist!"Outside, there is thunder and lightning which the Robot has to tell Smith, "That is not of my making."Smith is pleased, "Mother Nature at her mightiest. Unfortunately the Robinsons will have to enjoy it at closer quarters. Perhaps I should prepare that eulogy after all."Lightning fills the night sky!

ACT TWO

Jupiter II: it is 104 below zero Fahrenheit. Smith claims it was that an hour ago. Robot tells him correction--it is 98 degrees below zero and rising. The robot's head sensors rotate in the first five episodes but by WELCOME STRANGER they do not rotate. They can circle around the center piece though as if the Robot is looking with them. Robot gives Smith data on a ticker tape from his lower chest--really a belly plate. It is the same data as before. Smith looks at the data on the sun of this planet. Smith reminds Robot of an order he gave him: eliminate all unnecessary personnel at the earliest opportunity. Smith tells him he can forget those orders now---this scrap of info makes the orders unnecessary. "Our little band of pioneers won't trouble us any longer,"Smith tut-tuts, "Rather a dreadful way to die but after all, that's a pioneer's life."

Chariot is on the ice. There is lots of wind. Penny and Will are up, Penny smiling, seemingly enjoying their adventures. The scanner is blank. The temperature check reveals the temperature to be higher; Don telling them they are not that far south yet to have the temp that high. It is 30 degrees up. Don says, "If winter comes can spring be far behind."There is a slight tremor. John says, "I'm beginning to think we should have stayed back at the spaceship."Don doesn't agree, "There's no telling what's happening back there now."

Smith thinks the Robot is gloating--that his info is correct. "Of course that tiresome family will wiped out. Well good riddance."Robot has no comment. He tells Smith it is plus 30 and rising. Smith says, "I'd get more companionship from a cuckoo clock."Robot will beat him in chess in three moves, Smith admits. It is a bore to play him. Smith wonders how much longer they have to live. Robot warns as a minor earth tremor rocks them both at 1400 yards. Smith is worried, "That does it--I'm going to warn them."Smith calls the Chariot.

It is day where the Chariot is now. It crosses out of the ice back onto land. A few minutes ago it was pitch black. John says, "It's a strange planet. I thought we had three or four more hours before dawn."Judy, Maureen, Penny and Will (who is starved) wake up. Judy notes it is morning; Penny says, "Hey, and it's not cold anymore either."John wants to make some observations so they will stop soon. Cosmic interference prevents them from hearing the radio message clearly. Don puts up the antenna as John suggests. Smith calls, "You must return to the spaceship at once."Don says, "Why should we turn back? So you can get another crack at us with that Robot of yours? Or are you trying to save your own miserable neck?" Smith answers, "On the contrary, I'm attempting to save your miserable necks! Turn back before it's too late--you're in terrible danger--you've got to believe me!"John gets the mike from Don, "Smith, this is Robinson. Now why on Earth should we believe you?"Smith quips, "May I remind you my dear sir, that we are no longer on Earth!"John says, "Oh, that's very clever."A similar line is thought of by Mark Wilson in FLIGHT OF FEAR, a Whitman paperback novel tie in to LAND OF THE GIANTS. Smith continues, "You won't survive another hour."Maureen says, "He, ahh, he sounds really worried, you don't suppose..."John intercepts, "The only thing I suppose is that he's an expert on sounding that way."Don agrees, "I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw one of those giants."He takes the mike, "Nice try, give us a call again sometime."He hangs up. John frowns, "Well, it wouldn't have hurt

to hear what he had to say."They can't get him back.

Smith calls them lamebrain skeptics, "Now they'll all die. Well, let them."Robot tells him it is 59 degrees and rising. Smith is sick of the Robot making conversation only about the weather. "Stranded on an alien planet."He laments that there is no one to talk to except this animated weather station. Smith gets an idea--the Robot has "an open face that people trust"and sends the Robot on an 80 mile trip, bringing a special delivery message to the Robinsons. Robot goes over the ice soon enough (this travel music not on the CD).

Night--Maureen and Penny clean up the dinner table they have set up by the Chariot--a more open spot than the last one. Maureen wonders how much of the meal Debbie ate and how much Penny did. Penny says, "She was awfully hungry, honest, she was."Will tells Maureen the dinner hit the spot. No one is wearing their parkas. Judy claims, "Somehow it doesn't feel as cold as it did. Possibly too warm for a fire."John and Don return, admitting Judy is right. John shows Maureen a stick--part of a tree, "We found lots of this frozen solid in the ground."Maureen looks at it, "It looks as though it's been charred."John nods, "It has."Maureen wonders, "Burned and then frozen--why that doesn't make sense, does it?"John says, "Darling, very little on this planet makes sense...by Earth's standard."The Robot comes over a hill and passes rocks, "Matter of life and death, matter of life and death."Maureen wonders what it is doing here. Don runs to the Chariot, gets his laser pistol and fires at the Robot, putting it out.

ACT THREE

Don continues shooting it. Will pulls Don's arm away but Don grabs Will by the arm, "Will, listen! Every time Smith turns that Robot loose it spells trouble, now why should this time be any different?"Will pulls away and runs to the Robot. John chastises Don, "You could've waited, Don, we always had our lasers."John goes to Will and the Robot, Will commenting on how Don was wrong to do this. John tells him Major West did what he thought was right. Will asks, "But he wasn't right, was he?"John tells him they will talk about that some other time.

Morning--the girls are packing up the Chariot; Don is stowing some gear. He tells Will his father is working on that tin monster and was most of the night. "Hey, ahh, you're pretty fond of that Robot, aren't ya?"Will says yes and goes to John. The girls are rolling up sleeping bags. Don follows Will to John, arguing against Smith's data from the Robot. John shows them what the message says by drawing a map of the sun and the planet in the sand, "The orbit of this planet is nothing like the Earth's orbit. It's a flat ellipse. The sun isn't in the center--it's over here at this leg."That means when it was cold they were at one end away from the sun. John says that now, "In a matter of hours we're going to be in danger of roasting alive. And there's no time to get back to the ship. We're going to have build a shelter right here."Don and John argue about the data again. Don calls Smith a pathological liar and after all he's done, John is going to pay attention to this message. John doesn't care what Smith's done (why not?) and tells him these are cold, hard facts they have. Don tells him they should keep on going. John says, "And you're in no position to give orders."Don snaps, "Oh but you are---too bad there isn't judgement to go alone with that self confidence."John answers, "Now that's enough out of you. I'm going to save your life along with the others. We get that shelter rigged now!"Don leaves. Will says, "Boy, dad, you really read him out."Will helps Penny down from the Chariot, telling her not just sit there. John throws the paper message from the Robot down, angry. Maureen goes over to John; Judy takes off past the front of the Chariot to go to Don. Maureen tells John, "We, ahh, we couldn't help but hear."John says, "I don't what got into him."Maureen hugs him close, "It's bound to happen to all of us. Here on this hostile planet with danger everywhere and fighting for our lives every moment."John tells her it doesn't sound like her. Maureen calls it a little crack in her armor. John tells her they all have a little trouble with their armor once in awhile. Maureen tells him, "I've seen it in you."John admits, "You just have. I shouldn't have teed off at Don like that."

Don opens a suitcase pack to get some of the protective shelter shielding out. Judy is there, behind him, "Can I help?"Don is startled by her. Judy tells him he gave her something of a start, himself, back there. Don says, "Like father, like daughter."Judy tells him he was the one who started everything."Can't you ever conceive of your father ever being wrong?"Judy says, "Of course I can but this time I don't think he is."Don responds to this with telling her she is the ultimate computer now--all the answers at her fingertips. Judy (her hair in a pigtail) turns away from him, "I don't have any answers right now--not for anything."

Later--the shelter is almost finished. Judy checks the temperature on a thermometer on the Chariot, "108, how much hotter can it get?"Maureen says, "I don't dare think about it."The women are in short sleeve shirts; the males in T-shirts. Maureen goes to John and asks him to tell her the truth as he always has--she wants to know how hot it will get. He tells her he's never lied to her before and won't start now--he just doesn't know. They hug but the ground begins to shake. Don yells, "Earthquake!"He and the kids fall under the shielding which is up against the side of the Chariot. John and Maureen fall together. The quake stops rocking them. One shield panel fell off. Don goes to John, "If we had kept going south we wouldn't have had any..."Maureen goes to the kids. John stops Don, "Just help me get that shield up!"As they tie the shield back into place, Don on one side, John on the other, John explains, "Those faults were all along the area. We would have felt it no matter where we were."Don tells him not to bother convincing him--he's not a geologist. John says, "Well I am a geologist. The quick freeze filled the faults with ice, the ice expanded and the thaw produced the slippage."As they talk, heatedly, they have trouble tying up the panel into place. John finally yells, "Let me have it here!"Don does and John ties it, "Satisfied!"John snaps back, "Yeah!"Will comes to John, "Dad look!"John yells, "Here it comes!"They all get under the heat shield and then under insulated heat blankets--John gives Don one. John and Maureen get under one. The sun comes down, sparking fires all around them. Smoke fills the area. The top of the shield gets some fire on it.

ACT FOUR

The shield has some burns on it and some holes. Everyone wakes up one at a time, John first. He burns his hand on the door of the Chariot when he opens it to get water out. He gives water to Maureen and they drop some. Maureen gives Don the canister as John gives some to Judy. Penny gets up and asks for a drink from dad. John tells her to drink it slowly, not to gulp. All are sweating. Will gets a drink next--and John warns him not to gulp either. John nods to Maureen to give Don some water, too but she wants him to take some for himself first. Don already had the canister. The music here perfectly indicates the oppressive heat felt.

Later---all are dressed in their regular outfits. All is packed up...except the Robot which Don is taking apart. Maureen asks John, "Are we really going back to the spaceship?"John says, "That's all we can do. This cycle of intense heat and cold is gonna repeat itself and we wanna be ready for it when it does."Will calls what Don is doing murder. Don is wearing a gold necklace. Don tells John, brought by Will, "I know you're in command..."HE ALSO HAPPENED TO BE RIGHT, YOU DOPE. Will keeps interrupting John, "You have no right to take apart that robot!"John tells Will to let him handle this. Don wants this "animated hunk of machinery"battened down for the trip across the full fledged ocean. John tells Will, "Don's right about this."Will storms off. Don wants two hours or more to break down the solar batteries and realign them. John just wants to get out of here as soon as they can. Don asks, "Is that another order?"John says, "You can take that any way you'd like."Don says, "Alright, but I wouldn't guarantee we get there."NOTE: Will left so didn't really hear this, yet later, he knew John wouldn't let Don realign the solar batteries so either he came back and was off screen or someone, Don or John, told him about this.

The Chariot moves out across the desert toward the Inland Sea. It dips down into the sea from land. John asks for a protein pill but Maureen gave the kids the last ones just before they started out (in NO PLACE script she took the last one herself). Penny asks if he wants some coffee heated; he says he is not about to fall asleep. Penny asks Will, "If we're not on Mars, you tell us where we are."Will isn't sure, "We might even be on Cerebrus."The Chariot continues. It gets dark and seems to be night or just very storm clouded. There is lightning, wind, and rain. The storm is an eclectic bit of music--starting out with new music from John Williams, then giving us a very brief but effective snippet from JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (the scene as the enemy soldiers approach the Hydra), a great often used action filled piece from THE LAST WAGON (used on THE TIME TUNNEL and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA often), and some other western music (possibly also from another scene--an Indian fight scene in LAST WAGON) and of course, the long stretch of action music from THE ENEMY BELOW (so often used in VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA's third and fourth season). The Chariot is on heavy waves, surrounded by lightning. Don figures the car is not responding due to a loose connection in the solar batteries. Debbie is frantic. Don has to go up to see if he can fix the solar batteries. Judy asks, "Now?"John tells him no, they are right in the middle of it. Don yells, mostly to be heard over the storm, "Doc, we can't wait!"Maureen looks at John, "John, you know he's right!"John thinks and reluctantly agrees, telling Judy to come up front and take over the scope (still on LAST WAGON music). Don asks Will to stand by the hatch and hand him what he needs but Maureen does that, getting the tools from Will and passing them to Don who is on top the roof. When she gives him the solar wrench, he tells her, "We're heading straight for a whirlpool."Judy tells John, "We must cut to the left."John tells them they've lost control and Maureen tells John. Don tells her one minute and he's got the solar batteries. Maureen goes to John, "John, look there it is!"John says, "I can't even get it on left."(in the unaired pilot one--he says, "I can't even get it into reverse"and in unaired pilot two he says, "I can't even get it on left"or "I can't even get it unlocked"). It is difficult to tell which word he says, "left"or "unlocked". In any case, THE ENEMY BELOW music begins here. Penny gasps as water rains in on them all, the water over floods the Chariot and nearly sinks it down, wave after wave hitting, the whirling motion tossing it round and round. We see some shots from behind the Chariot, too. John yells, "Get Don back in here and close the hatch!"Maureen calls out to Don but he's gone. Judy reacts emotionally. John yells, "Judy, you stay here!"He turns to Maureen, "Can you handle these?"He gives her the controls amid several bursts of loud turbulence sounds. John looks up and calls for Don. Finally, he goes back down, telling Judy, hugging her, "He's gone. He's gone."Judy cries. The Chariot comes out of the whirlpool. John says, "It's got to let up soon."Judy is just staring; Maureen touches her arm. Don climbs back up to the roof of the Chariot, having been holding onto the side all this time. He bangs on the bubble. (In unaired pilot one Don yells, "Halp! Halp! Help!".)Judy opens the bubble and pulls him in, dumping loads of water on everyone. "Oh Don, we thought you were dead."Don gasps, "Not dead just half drowned."He managed to make a connection. Maureen checks the scope for the nearest landfall. John says, "Alright everybody hang on, here we go."The Chariot leaves the ocean and drives up onto land. There are werid rock formations, trees, and flowers. COLUMBIA VIDEO cut a small section here of the tropical forest.

JOHN'S LOG: We have passed through the fury of the Inland Sea and once more reached the safety of land. The onslaught of the blazing sun had turned the frozen wastes on this side of the sea into a werid tropical paradise. Far ahead, across the miles of barren terrain, lies the safety of our spaceship. But before we continued, it seemed only right, after having survived the incredible dangers of the last few days, that we stop and give thanks.

Don helps the girls and Will out of the Chariot doorway, then takes Debbie. The rest of the family stop and kneel as John reads from the Bible. Don stands up with Debbie (he may be Jewish). Soon enough the Chariot is on its way again.

NOTE: In the unaired pilots, the aliens that watch them appear here-aliens that may have been from the alien civilization of the cave city. From the NO PLACE script: these aliens are "totally hairless, large domed, with wide, round, totally emotionless eyes-- they seem to stare as if they may be able to tune into the thoughts of the space family from Earth."There is also a lake in the scene. The script mentions that we can presume these aliens are the ones who built the city. The Robinsons, in the NO PLACE script, were supposed to remain in the tropics for quite some time--the next six months, build a house, and plan to hightail it back to the spaceship when summer comes back around. There is also some talk about Don feeling safer in the middle of traffic rush on 42nd street in New York. Don also quotes Elbert Hubbard, "The path of civilization is paved with tin cans."John's reading of the Bible is at the very end of the trip and it is, "For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is passed and as watch in the night...so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts onto wisdom."

Jupiter II---Smith, in his jumpsuit via stock footage from ISLAND IN THE SKY, walks to the porthole. He looks out and sees the Chariot head on, approaching the Jupiter II. "Robinson alive--impossible."This short scene was better left out. As they unpack, John goes to Don, "I guess I owe you an apology."GUESS, YOU DOPE, YOU DO! Don asks, "What for?"John says, "You know what for--if I allowed you to align those solar batteries..."Don says, "Forget it, we got back, didn't we?"John says, "Sure we got back."They shake hands. Will comes, "You two aren't angry anymore?"John fake hits Will with a sleeping bag roll and leaves, Will nodding uh-hu. But Will goes to Don, "Don, you almost got killed back there--was it because my dad wouldn't let you realign the solar batteries?"Don nods, "Naw, it was just like I said, a loose connection."Will says, "Oh, then my dad was right?"Don smiles, "He's the boss."Will says, "Yeah."Don asks for his help unloading the rest of the stuff. The touching end music here, used later in many episodes, is not included on the CD set.

CLIFFHANGER: Night--John writes, Maureen brings him coffee or tea. There is also a picture hanging in the back of his cabin which looks suspiciously like THE TIME TUNNEL!

JOHN'S LOG: We are now once more safely encamped at the spaceship, momentarily secure from the extremes of heat and cold as well as the violent electrical storms that characterize this remote and unidentified planet. Although I have encouraged Will to try to make radio contacts, all attempts so far, have been unsuccessful and the supreme question has now become one of whether we can survive.

In the Control Room, the Robot plays Will's guitar, this time badly--playing NO PLACE LIKE HOME. Smith is in a chair, sadly singing the lyrics and wearing his vee neck black shirt and black pants again. The Robot head pieces turn. Will wonders how he is supposed to hear with that music going. He is trying to raise someone out in space or send a message to someone. Lightning hits and thunder sounds out. Will says, "If you think that's applause, you're wrong. Sure was creepy music."Smith talks more to himself than to Will, going on about how the Robinsons cannot possibly appreciate the finer things in life, "The only home you and your family ever had was the ready room on a launching pad."Will picks up static. John comes up on the elevator and stops Will from sending signals--lightning bolts could home in the ship signal and crash down upon them. Smith believes other terrors out there could also come upon them: an alien runaway missile, war ships ready to swoop down on them. Smith is wearing his black velvet top shirt with a vee on it, outlined, with black trousers. John jokes and tells him to man his post throughout the night. He takes Will, "C'mon champ."They are heading for the elevator to go to bed when Smith picks up something on the radar scope on the control room panel. Overly dramatic, John says, "It's a missile and it's headed straight for us."We see a rocket ship in space flying.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: The musical cues during the water storm and the earthquake in the cave-city are very similar but occur in different places and have some other music--mostly from the listed sources--DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE LAST WAGON, THE ENEMY BELOW, and possibly others. Maureen screams a great deal during the water storm in the Unaired Pilot Number One; there is also more water dumped onto the Chariot in that one. ENEMY BELOW music plays longer in the first unaired pilot. In the second, there are some quiet moments without music during sea ride just before the storm hits. The bang on the scope as John tells Judy to come up front is different in unaired pilot one. Will's fall into the trap door in Unaired Pilot Number Two has stock music that is heard in THE LOST CIVILIZATION and FOLLOW THE LEADER as well as many episodes of THE TIME TUNNEL and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (third and fourth season). Some Chariot music in Unaired Pilot number two is also heard in THE TIME TUNNEL-VISITORS FROM BEYOND THE STARS--all stock of Bernard Herrman music. VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA music by Paul Sawtell is heard as the Chariot encounters the Cyclops in unaired pilot number two. Both pilots use a diary insert over the filmed scenes whenever John writes in his logs in the year 2001 (almost 2002), Unaired One has them in longer than Two. Also in Two that is not in One is when John says, while narrating, "We are humbly grateful,"just before and while he reads the Bible in the tropical jungle. And both unaired pilots contain a pull back from this scene of two aliens watching the Robinsons and Don (and the Bloop). The heads of the aliens seem similar to INVADERS FROM THE 5TH DIMENSION aliens but here, the aliens have bodies and mouths and different, more beak like noses. They are shorter than the INVADERS FROM THE 5TH DIMENSION. We also spot a lake behind the aliens, who seem to be watching from large stalks of brush--a swamp?

REVIEW: When we come to the end of this episode, we end the best five episode story arc ever in any show. LOST IN SPACE never recovered this expedition feeling, opting most of the time to have the family stay at the spaceship and allowing alien beings or Earth travelers to come to them...of course there were exceptions to this but not very many. The exploratory mission of these first five shows should have been repeated in different ways on other planets. Also--we never find out the secret of the civilization in the caves in the aired episode. THE HUNGRY SEA is enjoyable, again, on many levels: it creates friction between John and Don which allowed for some nice dramatic touches between the adults--for once in the series. This was lost as the first season waned away and by THE SPACE CROPPERS, the rest of the family aside from Will, Smith, and the Robot were mere cameos or guests in their own show. The weather situation is fun as are the various setting up of camps along the way. Some of the Smith scenes may have gone on a bit too long but it proves how mean he could really be but by the end, he relents--perhaps from not wanting to be alone and not having a pilot to fly him back to Earth but there was something more in his voice, too. Maureen was correct when she said he sounded really worried---he was. After this, while being somewhat greedy and evil minded, he was never as evil as he was in these first five episodes. The special effects in THE HUNGRY SEA as well as the other four are splendid, movie quality. In fact, many movies do not have the quality these five episodes have. The character stuff between Don and John makes the whirlpool and storm sequence quite more interesting than it would have been without it (in the unaired pilots there is no friction between Don and John at all in this scene--its just a loose connection). The five episodes bravely used a great deal of footage from the unaired pilots---footage that was too good not to use--too special---and added to it by expanding the characters, setting them into situations that could have lasting effects. As good as both pilots are, THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY, THE DERELICT, ISLAND IN THE SKY, THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH, and THE HUNGRY SEA are far better. Score wise, these five episodes, combined with WELCOME STRANGER, MY FRIEND MR. NOBODY, and INVADERS FROM THE 5TH DIMENSION are the best music science fiction-fantasy has to offer---aside from the excellent scores for LAND OF THE GIANTS. Superior in every way--every note deserves to be on its own CD for these eight episodes. Alas, it is not to be. The weather and orbit bits are a nice piece of fantasy even if unrealistic--a few days of this and the planet would probably be a disaster area and very unlivable.

NOTE: Since both unaired pilots are inferior to THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY, THE DERELICT, ISLAND IN THE SKY, THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH, and THE HUNGRY SEA, I have decided to put both unaired pilots after these five episodes--since these used stock footage from both pilots---as for readers to be able to compare the unaired pilots to the much better versions seen in the episodes. Both pilots are important, however, because they give us some background not given in the aired episodes. There is less development of characters and situations, however in these unaired pilots.

UNAIRED PILOT NUMBER ONE

The Jupiter II was originally called the Gemini 12 and could travel at 18412 miles per hour. The TV man commentator is the narrator, not Dick Tufeld. The countdown is started in this story at 6 minutes and 40 seconds. The credits start right away with DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL music. The Robinsons will stay in their suspended animation slumber for 98 years. Alpha Control mentions the Bermuda Tracking Station and an electronic brain on the spaceship Gemini 12. Dr John Robinson is seen on the screen over Alpha Control's main control area. He is a Professor of Astro Physics the University of Stellar Dynamics. With him for the first time that anyone other than an adult male passed the International Space Administration's grueling physical and emotional screening for intergalactic flight is his wife, Dr. Maureen Robinson, the distinguished biochemist of the New Mexico College of Space Medicine. We hear FANTASTIC VOYAGE movie sound effects quite loudly in this scene as the Robinsons are introduced and go right into their freezing tubes. I prefer the scenes in THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY through THE HUNGRY SEA as it gives the Robinsons more dimension and character interplay and development. Their daughter, age 19 has rather heroically postponed a career in the musical comedy field for the next two centuries at the very least. Their son Will, who graduated from the Camdo Canyon School of Science at age 9---the highest average in the school's history. Penny, age 11, IQ 147, hobby: zoology. There is also a behind the freezing tube shot in this one and the unaired pilot two. Their assistant Dr. Donald West from the center for radio astronomy. Last year his theory about other planets and fitness for human habitation rocked the scientific community. The scenes are longer. They will be in limbo for a "lifetime"---98 years. The President makes his speech after they have been frozen, making what he says to them a bit...belated. Here, his speech is uninterrupted as it is for a few seconds in THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY when Don turns on the screen in the Jupiter II. The liftoff of the spaceship is seen from the scanner at Alpha Control. We also see more window shots---the astrogater bubble rising and lowering, the galaxies at the window, the spaceship flying over clouds of Earth. Then a swirling mass at the window. There is a long shot and a very different exterior scene as the meteors rain down on the Jupiter II, 25 thousand miles per her at a diameter of 1000. Bernard Herrman music fills the unaired pilots, different takes of each musical cue but similar. This pilot has longer sequences. There is a close up of a Hot Wire Liquid Gas Channel device. It is mentioned the spaceship can regenerate its own controls. A voice from Alpha Control also mentions there is a heat fire behind all the controls in the spaceship. The ship ends up over a planet. We see the planet at the window---it has no cloud cover. It would have this more realistic cloud cover in the cliffhanger to THE DERELICT and in ISLAND IN THE SKY. "Alpha Control's final analysis on the Gemini 12's flight indicates unhappily that the spaceship has either been destroyed or must be presumed LOST IN SPACE. (Unaired Pilot Two now has the credits zoomed into our face with a loud rocket like take off whistle on the musical cue). There seem to be a few extra shots on the Ship

Crash sequence.

JOHN'S DIARY: December 3rd in the year 2001: None of us knows for sure how long we traveled in suspended animation. Our atomic clock indicates three and one half years but we're not positive. We do know for a fact that it is now six months since our landing on this unknown planet. Thank Heaven that we survived that terrible crash which completely disabled the spaceship. We are hopeful of its eventual repair and our ability to use it again. Meanwhile all goes reasonably well. We've established a base camp, domesticated some of the local animals and cultivated a small farm.

Rocks are more craggy and abundant as Will chases an ostrich in extreme long shot. We see over the spaceship to larger rocks than used in the first season, the ship's canvass overhang, and the women. Will keeps calling the ostrich to come back here. It was supposed to have taken one of his electronic devices. Penny is under the table with Debbie the Bloop, a monkey like creature which makes squeaky noises, not bloops. Penny calls Will and the ostrich, "Children,"and hugs Debbie, "Wait till father comes home."Maureen says, "They were due back a half hour ago."Judy asks, "You don't think anything happened?"Maureen says, "Oh no of course not."Penny plays with Debbie some more. John and Don are on the cliff side while werid music plays--music used in THE TIME TUNNEL-VISITORS FROM BEYOND THE STARS and some VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA third and fourth season episodes. It is obviously Bernard Herrman music. They check the instruments. As they do, music from BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF is heard--this music is also heard later when Penny talks to the Bloop and the Spiked Turtle in this, the unaired pilot two and THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH. It seems John is aghast when he reads that the day after tomorrow it will fall far below zero--this is a different take from the one in THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH. There are many similar scenesacross this, the unaired pilot, and the first five episodes of LOST IN SPACE, some exact, some slightly different, some with dubbed in dialogue, some just trimmed short of scenes and dialogue. John tells Don, "It's moving day, Dr. West."They go to check another gauge but find it wrecked in a giant footprint, one of many. There is no talk of the Robot here--Smith and the Robot are not in either unaired pilot. The cyclops first appears--we hear DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL music. They run. John yells, "Don!"He does not in the THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH--although it might be that the soundtrack is too loud with music and roars--different roars in THERE WERE GIANTS--scarier ones in THERE. The roars here are heardin a variation in THE SKY PIRATE by the glob thing. When Don and John go in the cave there is music from JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and DAY. At the ship, Will works on the radio telescope. Pictures no sound. Maureen takes out the wash, we see the fence and ostriches. Will calls her in to look through the scope. She sees the giant. Will looks, "Holy cow! It is--a giant!"Judy and Penny come up the ramp. Maureen looks again--no "Let me look again."Judy gets upset and Maureen tells her to calm down, "Besides, there's nothing we can do about it now."Will grabs the laser gun, "Oh yes there is!"He runs out amid JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH--Lindbrook's abduction in the stagecoach music. Organ music when we see the Cyclops--also from JOURNEY. Will's belt clinks against the cliff rocks. As the giant shoves a tree in, John yells, "Lookout," which he may have in THERE but which couldn't really be heard as well. Music concludes from JOURNEY (the scene when the villain dies) as Will shoots the monster. It falls and then we switch musically to DAY THE EARTH music again. Will says, "Dad! Dad! I killed the giant. I kilt him!"This is changed simply to "I did it! I did it!"for THERE.

The scene after is John rushing to kids to pack, "C'mon kids, keep moving. I want us out of here in the next five minutes."This is changed in THERE to "C'mon kids, keep moving, we have to get out of here!" Maureen and Will's scene is the same. I've noticed a pile of wood by the spaceship door area. John's lift off seems longer and in a long shot. His flight up looks longer and the entire sequence on the flying belt is much longer. "I'll find her,"he calls down to Maureen. In THERE he calls "Don't worry! I'll find her!" He flies up and then around a rock. We see a behind shot which is the same as the episode. We also see him pass a canyon which is longer. Close up on John as he looks at the canyon. Also a semi-side shot. Extreme long shot of John flying follows the semi side shot. Point of view shots follow--we see trackless desert ground passing beneath John. Another sideshot. The BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF music plays throughout this and the rest of the sequence--ending when they get back to the Chariot. We see the same overhead shot of Penny on the turtle. Penny says, "Now we're all lost."Debbie gets off her lap and moves away, "Hey come back here. We'd better stick together or none of us willget home."Debbie comes back and Penny calls her, "Good girl."John hovers over the same spot, a two pronged rock jutting up behind him. He flies over hills and pointy rocks. He is higher up. Penny calls, "Daddy, Daddy," and it seems more times than in THERE. John lands. Their lift off is longer with a medium shot of all three. John asks, "How do you like it?"Penny, "Oh, it's great.""How's the Bloop?""Oh fine."Then we see an extreme long shot of all three flying. They fly over rocks. Maureen and Will get in the Chariot. Don calls John, "Dr. Robinson,"telling them John picked ten below zero as a deadline, "...but it will be us who's dead if we don't stick to it."Judy throws her tantrum (and in the NO PLACE script picks up a gun at Don) but Maureen yells at her, "Oh Judy please stop it!"Judy says, "We're not going without them!"Maureen's line cut from THERE.

After Penny, Debbie, and John return, the Chariot goes along as we hear some more werid music used on THE TIME TUNNEL and which sounds like it is from DAY. The Cyclops's growls are different from THERE. When they pass the dead Cyclops--after Don shoots it down with the unusual laser rifle--Debbie squeaks and bangs a bit longer. The whole "dead cyclops"scene seems longer.

Chariot drives on. John is play punching the monkey Debbie who was trying to touch John's face. We can also see the monkey wearing diapers, something which I really never took notice of in the aired episodes. Don is driving. Maureen asks, "I wonder how cold it is back at the spaceship now."John says, "Too cold."Don then announces, "Oh no,"and mentions the boulders didn't do the power unit any good. Chariot sounds louder in the pilot but this could be the louder music used in THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH drowning out the Chariot sound. Will plays Greensleeves. The camp scene seems lighter but this might be the copy I saw. Penny's snoop report on Don and Judy is accompanied by the romance music from JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Right after this scene, in THERE, we saw a Chariot riding scene which looked like a daytime scene. In thisUNAIRED PILOT NUMBER ONE (and TWO) we see the camp scene end and the lightning scene begin right away. Don calls John Doc which is also used in the other versions including THERE. Upon entering the cave, Maureen asks, "What kind of a place is this?"Penny says, "It..it looks like a big cave."John says, "Let's take a look."Don lights a flare and then gets the flashlights and Debbie. For some reason, while Don gets Debbie we hear Guy Williams's voice saying, "Debbie, come on, Debbie."As the family passes webs, John looks back, "Everybody alright back there?"There is more DAY music--creepy music which is used throughout LOST IN SPACE. It lasts longer here. Later, when Will and Penny are lost, Will falls through a trap door and we hear his yell, "Penny help!"THERE doesn't seem to have his saying this but that might be, again, due to the louder music. Penny's scream at the mummy is louder here and she screams more times. When Don and Judy open the door to find the pair, Penny says, "Look Don!"This is not in THERE. When the cave starts shaking, Don just yells, "Earthquake!!!"In THERE, he yells "It's an earthquake!"All the screaming in the quake sequence seems louder and more confusing...and louder...all at the same time. Don does not say, "Judy, stay close to Penny,"here, nor does he say, "Don't be frightened! It'll be open in a minute!"These are present in the unaired pilot two and THERE as well as in the teaser to THE HUNGRY SEA. Phew! It is easier to hear the dialogue in the unaired pilot number one. Maureen yells, "Push,"as the others try to push open the block John cut out with his laser. This escape from the tomb room has more intense music--more so than in THERE and the UNAIRED PILOT NUMBER TWO. The sense of urgency is best here musically speaking. Not to say that the music in THERE was bad. It is far superior to all the music in the unaired pilots---but in this one short scene---it is more effective the way it was in the original pushing of the stone block.

NOTE: All scenes of John's Diary are superimposed under the diary itself--and in both pilots these diary readings are the same except for four different words added to the last one in the unaired pilot number two. In comparing the unaired pilot one and the unaired pilot two, the diary scenes seem to last longer in some scenes but in other scenes the diary shots do not last as long. These diary superimposings and readings are removed from Chariot shots in THERE, THE HUNGRY SEA, and even in ISLAND IN THE SKY.

JOHN'S DIARY: December 5th in the year 2001---the attack of the fearful lightning bolts followed by equally terrible earthquake frightened all of us. We're still puzzled by the strange signs of civilization we found in the cave. Either this planet once sheltered human life or mysterious beings still lurk in the shadows, watching us this very minute. Perhaps one day we will return to the cave and learn more. Right now we feel lucky to be alive and are bending every effort to reach the Inland Sea, our last barrier to the tropics that promises warmth and peace.

Chariot scene here only: Will runs up to Don, "It's working, Don, it's working!"Don says, "Let me see---hah, I told you, you could do it."John tells Will to put his seat belt on. They approach the Inland Sea. JOURNEY music lightly accompanies this. Then the storm hits--JASON music and LAST WAGON music also hit--and the musical cues seem longer as do the scenes. We seem to see the back of the Chariot more often in the storm in this unaired pilot than in THERE and the unaired pilot number two. Judy has a closeup which seems present in all three versions. When they enter the whirlpool, John says, "I can't even get it into reverse."Cue THE ENEMY BELOW music. Maureen screams more and louder. She calls Don. We see his hand holding onto the side of the car. Why couldn't they see him? The storm? It takes John longer to get up to the bubble to find Don and he has to hang on. He can't. Later, they leave the whirlpool but the storm persists. Don climbs up and bangs, yelling, "Help! Help!"Judy pulls him in. The Chariot escapes with different musical cues--longer versions here. When the Chariot comes out, we hear very grand music--JOURNEY or DAY most likely.

JOHN'S DIARY: December 8th in the year 2001: Our great adventure in the wild sea is now happily behind us. At last we've reached the tropics. The weather is warm, the vegetation lush and the stillness of the air promises peaceful days. Yet so much has happened in our short stay on this strange planet, that we take nothing for granted. We've experienced dangers unknown by Earthbound men. We breathe easily now but only for the moment. Our every instinct tells us there are wild, wonderful adventures just ahead.

As they stop and give thanks, Maureen passing the Bible to John, the camera pulls out so we can see the two alien beings watching them from behind stalks or large swamp weeds. Nearby is a lake of some kind or the ocean. First--JOURNEY music to accompany the aliens. We hear DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL music during the credits.

UNAIRED PILOT TWO:

There is a delay in the liquid oxygen tanks loading valve. The TV commentator is better paced and there is no foreign press yet. Musical cues are very different in this one. The fire is in back of all the magma panels--a quote as seen in THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY but NOT in the unaired pilot two. Jupiter II goes right to the planet. "Alpha Control's final analysis indicates unhappily that the spaceship has been destroyed or must be presumed LOST IN SPACE. The credits whistle (like a take off of a spaceship) into being and are accompanied by Bernard Herrman music. Will chases the ostrich amid windy sounds; Debbie bloops bloop sounds--as she did in the entire run of LOST IN SPACE, despite what errors John Peel feels he can make about the show. All the other scenes are the same up to when John says, "I don't want to leave the family alone a second longer than necessary."It changes to Will at the radio telescope and Maureen takes the wash out to the auto washer. She works it and then takes the clothes out. A fade goes into the scene of John yelling, "C'mon kids, keep moving. We have to get out of here," which is what we hear in THERE but not in the unaired pilot number one where he says, "C'mon kids, keep moving. I want us out of here in the next five minutes."John's flight to find Penny is shorter than in the unaired pilot number one but is the same or as close to THERE as possible. Before he takes off, he refers to the "close call they had this morning"with the giant--thus this scene was edited out of this unaired pilot for some reason. His call to Maureen, "Don't worry, I'll find her," is the same as in THERE but "I'll find her,"is not in the unaired pilot. There are less flying scenes in this than in the unaired pilot-in fact he doesn't hover in this second pilot. There is no point of view shot and no Debbie wandering off Penny's lap. John does not ask Penny about how she likes the ride up nor does he ask her about how the Bloop is doing. Maureen does not tell Judy to stop her tantrum. All of this is also missing from THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH.

One interesting musical cue is Paul Sawtell type music from the first season of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA as the Chariot moves through the valley just before it encounters the Cyclops. This musical cue is different from both the Unaired pilot one and THERE WERE GIANTS. We get the JOURNEY music as the Cyclops attacks and it growls like the Cyclops in THERE WERE GIANTS. There is some other type of Bernard Herrman music as the Chariot passes the dead Cyclops--very grand music and very different. This may have come from BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF. Maureen's line of how cold it is back at the spaceship and John's answer, "Too cold!"are here. At the camp at night, they have a fire. It seems darker but that may be the copy I saw it on. Just before we see no extra Chariot scene which is also missing from the unaired pilot number one. There is a brief shot of the Chariot moving across the desert just before the lightning bolt attack in THERE. Also missing from the "entering the cave"sequence: no talk of the cave by Penny, no talk of Maureen and John wondering what it is, no Guy William's dub of "Debbie, c'mon Debbie," when Don is taking Debbie out, and no music for the first few minutes as they start out in their quest to see if it is safe to spend the night. The soundtrack is quiet for a few minutes, then back to DAY music. It is a different arrangement from both the unaired pilot one and from THERE. John does not ask if everybody is alright back there. The music stops as Penny goes through a cobweb, looking for Debbie. There are a few minutes of silence as Will looks for Penny. No music up to when Will falls through the trap door, "Penny help!"We hear different music--not from DAYS now but from some other movie which can also be heard in THE TIME TUNNEL from time to time or the later VOYAGE seasons. It is also used in LOST IN SPACE-THE LOST CIVILIZATION and FOLLOW THE LEADER. There are less screams from Penny as Don and Judy find Will and Penny. Penny does not say, "Look Don."Present in the earthquake that follows is: Don says, "Judy, stay close to Penny"and "Don't be frightened, it'll be open in a minute."Penny's scream as John lasers the door is the same but louder than in pilot number one. The bloop comes blooping as it did in THE HUNGRY SEA but made squeals in the unaired pilot number one. In unaired pilot number two, we hear one left over squeak from Debbie that slipped through the soundtrack. Every other time, in unaired pilot number two, Debbie bloops. At the scene that the four trapped younger Earthlings push on the stone block, it is easier than in THE HUNGRY SEA to hear what everyone is yelling, "Push harder,"is heard. Music as they escape the cave is not as intense as unaired pilot number one but tenser than in THE HUNGRY SEA. This is not to malign THE HUNGRY SEA's score--it is fantastic.

Chariot goes out. We do get the Will--it's working, Don and Don telling Will told ya you could do it--scene. John tells Will to put on his seat belt. Inland Sea time: John holds Maureen's hand before they enter the sea. Just before and during this entering the sea scene, Penny asks Will about Mars and there is actually another minute--maybe two--of a quiet soundtrack. Music starts up soon though. The storm is shorter than in unaired pilot number one and there are, surprise, different musical cues--similar and from the same sources but at different running times. When John hits the scope for Judy to move up--the sound sounds different from the unaired pilot number one but the same as in THE HUNGRY SEA. John, in the whirlpool, says, "I can't even get it on left (or unlocked"but it is difficult to hear and is present in HUNGRY. He says, "I can't even get into reverse" in unaired pilot number one. There are less behind the Chariot scenes and almost no screams from Maureen. She also gets hit with less water as do the others. The storm and whirlpool are more like they appear in THE HUNGRY SEA. The storm is also much louder than it was in the unaired pilot number one. Don does not yell, "Halp! Halp!"in this and does not yell it in HUNGRY. He does yell help in the unaired pilot number one. As the Chariot leaves the sea THE ENEMY BELOW music ends---as it does in THE HUNGRY SEA but in the first unaired pilot (ONE) THE ENEMY BELOW music ended as they touched the land. Not so here. The credits list Lamar Lundy as the Giant and are also cued from DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. The two aliens watch as the Robinsons kneel, Don stand with the Bloop. We see the lake and the ocean. The aliens have beaked noses, mouths, bodies, and ornaments around their necks. Their bald heads look a great deal like the alien heads in INVADERS FROM THE 5TH DIMENSION but clearly, they are not the exact same aliens.

JOHN'S DIARY DIFFERS ONLY HERE:

JOHN'S DIARY: December 8th in the year 2001: Our great adventure in the wild sea is now happily behind us. At last we've reached the tropics. The weather is warm, the vegetation lush and the stillness of the air promises peaceful days. WE ARE HUMBLY GRATEFUL. Yet so much has happened in our short stay on this strange planet, that we take nothing for granted. We've experienced dangers unknown by Earthbound men. We breathe easily now but only for the moment. Our every instinct tells us there are wild, wonderful adventures just ahead.